School of Music & Dance

Biography

Kelly Bowker, PhD, is a choreographer, scholar, and educator originally from mid-Michigan. Her dance-making focuses on centering women's experiences, most recently exploring her own journey of motherhood through dance-film. Kelly has been a part-time lecturer at Eastern Michigan University since fall 2023, and is serving as a guest choreographer for the EMU dance program in 2024-2025. 

Kelly’s dancing journey has taken her from her BFA at University of Michigan to Washington DC, San Francisco, CA, Chicago, IL and London, UK. She completed her MA in Choreography at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, where she first began integrating film into her work. She then went on to complete a PhD in Critical Dance Studies at the University of California, Riverside where her dissertation focused on the intersection of dance, technology, and race in both concert and popular dance. She is excited to be back in the midwest sharing her love of dance with a new generation of artists.